Oak Mountain High School graduate Matthew Lee Cloyd and two other suspects in nine Alabama church fires will find out today whether they will be released on bond.

The hearing is scheduled to come before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Armstrong Jr.

Cloyd, a 20-year-old Indian Springs resident and student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has been held at the Shelby County Jail along with Russell Lee DeBusk, 19; and Benjamin Nathan Moseley, 19; since their arrests last Wednesday.

A criminal complaint filed by special agents in U.S. District Court outlines two federal counts against each of the suspects.

If convicted, they face five to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Additional state and federal charges could follow.

Investigators said they combed through about 1,000 leads before finally coming across a major break at a Pelham business.

Tire tracks at six of the burned churches were said to have come from BF Goodrich All Terrain TA KO tires.

&8220;It&8217;s an upper-end premium tire for people with trucks and SUVs who like to get off road,&8221; said Jim Collins, business manager at Cahaba Tire. &8220;It&8217;s not a tire we sell a lot of.&8221;

A search of business records by Collins helped lead federal agents to Kimberly Cloyd, mother of Matthew Cloyd and owner of the green Toyota 4Runner allegedly driven by her son on the nights the churches were burned.

ATF agents interviewed Cloyd&8217;s parents, Kimberly and Michael Cloyd on March 7.

Kimberly said she spoke to her son on the telephone and asked him if he knew anything about the church fires, according to the criminal complaint. He said he wasn&8217;t involved but knew who was.

Shortly later, Matthew Cloyd told his father by telephone that he knew who did it and that he was there.

Cloyd told a separate witness that he and Moseley had done something stupid. He said they set a church on fire &8220;as a joke&8221; and that it got out of hand.

Moseley and DeBusk admitted their involvement in the fires to federal agents on March 8, the complaint says.

&8220;I&8217;m just glad we had the capability to generate some evidence that helped bring this to closure,&8221; Collins said of Cahaba Tire&8217;s involvement in the investigation.

Although none of the church fires occurred in Shelby County, the Shelby County Sheriff&8217;s Department also played an important role in the investigation.

Sheriff Chris Curry was at the press conference where the arrests of the suspects were announced.

Curry was thanked, along with the Shelby County Commission, for volunteering assistance to federal agents during the investigation.

Twelve deputy sheriffs trained in tactical response were sent during the early phases of the investigation to help patrol rural counties with low manpower, Curry said.

Deputies later teamed up with federal agents to assist with the e-mail and phone tip lines at the investigation command post.

&8220;This was a very serious situation and we had to do everything in our power to help,&8221; Curry said